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How do nostrils switch being blocked?

cold-sneeze.jpgQuestion

When you have a cold and a nostril is blocked, you use a spray to clear it and then the other nostril becomes blocked. How does the blocked one switch?
Mark, Dagenham

Answer

** Definitive **
Name: Raj, Chingford
Qualification: I asked my GP
Answer: Both sides of the nose are actually blocked. It’s just that one is blocked more than the other as the build-up may have been quicker. So if you clear one side out, you realise how bad the other one was. But also, when you blow one side out, you pull down some of the build-up from the top and you’re more likely to block the nostrils again.

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